, Columnist
Squaring the Circle
Circle's strategy of giving away its product is a threat other start-ups
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Fintech start-ups once wanted banking to be cheap. Now they want it to be free. And they’re making it happen with the help of the big banks they tried to displace.
Circle, a U.S. social payments app backed by a venture arm of Goldman Sachs, will start operating in Britain on Wednesday, offering free cross-currency payments and transfers between friends using the medium of Bitcoin.